Tramplight Bushcrasher Pack

I recently purchased a tramplight Bush Crasher pack. This is a lightweight pack designed and made in New Zealand with a very minimalist approach. I tried the pack out last weekend on the Waitawheta valley track.

General Features 

They quote a weight of 710g, mine probably weighs a little more than this as I had it made a little longer to match my height.

Removable sleeping mat used for back rest 

One really cool feature in this pack is the use of a foam sleeping mat as a back rest. This means you won't need to carry a sleeping mat anymore unless you want the added comfort of a self inflating mattress. So you might be able to subtract another 300g or so from the weight of this pack if you're comparing it to one without this feature. I will probably still use my therm-a-rest when I'm planning to camp rather than stay in a hut, but for unplanned camping the one built into the pack would do the job fine.

This pack is about 2.1kg lighter than my excessively large 90L fairydown. The bush crasher has a capacity of around 65L (just a rough estimate) so it's not really a direct comparison. What I can say though is that the reduced weight is very noticeable. Just think of the difference it makes carrying a two man tent.

Load Stability 

I found there was a tendency for the backrest of the pack to round out as I packed which made it a bit unstable on my back. This problem can be largely avoided by taking care in the loading of the pack.

Apart from the issue with rounding of the backrest the pack was fairly stable while walking. At one stage I tried a bit of running and the pack bounced around all over the place. So if you're someone that likes to a bit of running with your pack on this might not be the pack for you. The stability of the pack seemed fine while crossing rivers and walking over boulders so it seems that it handles lateral movement ok, it's just the up and down jolting of running that really upsets it.

All in all it's a good buy at $205 NZ for such a light pack.